Kidney Community Emergency Response Coalition
2008-2009
The KCER Coalition special project assists CMS in meeting the objectives articulated in the
Agency’s goal to ensure the right care for every person every time, and promotes the strategic
goals of the ESRD Network Program.
CMS, through contract with the Florida ESRD Network, convened a National Disaster Summit
on January 19, 2006, to review lessons learned, promising practices, and to plan for the future.
During the Summit, a national “Kidney Community Emergency Response Coalition” was
formed to assist state and local efforts in meeting the needs of individuals with kidney disease.
The Coalition is comprised of partners from the kidney community representing patient and
professional organizations; practitioners serving the patient with kidney failure, such as nurses,
technicians, dieticians, social workers, and physicians; independent dialysis and transplant
facilities; large dialysis organizations; hospitals; suppliers; ESRD Networks; state emergency
and survey representatives; as well as CMS and other Federal agencies such as the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The Coalition includes Response Teams in the areas of patient assistance, coordination of staff
and volunteers, physician assistance, communication, patient/facility tracking, facility
operations, Federal response, and pandemic preparedness with a coordinating committee
composed of representatives from each of the Response Teams and CMS.
The goals of the KCER Coalition are to:
 Raise public awareness of the critical needs of individuals with kidney failure and the
providers who serve them, and the need to plan ahead to ensure that life-saving dialysis
services are available and obtainable in the event of an emergency and/or disaster;
 Promote and disseminate tools and resources so that these are available to individuals
with kidney failure, dialysis facilities, and Federal, state, and emergency workers;
 Test and refine the national response strategy that has been put into place to assist
Federal, state, and local efforts in the event of an emergency and/or disaster; and
 Plan for a possible flu pandemic.
H1N1 Swine Flu Emergency Response
KCER continuously monitors emergency information for potential threats to the kidney
community. In March and April 2009, hundreds of cases of respiratory illness were reported in
Mexico that were suspected or confirmed to be caused by swine influenza. By April 28, 64
confirmed cases had been reported in the United States. The first cases were in California and
Texas. As it became apparent from the news media reports that swine flu could impact dialysis
and kidney transplant activities, the KCER core administrative group, CMS and the KCER
Pandemic Team Leaders took immediate action to activate the KCER Coalition.
On Monday, April 27, 2009, KCER began hosting conference calls for ESRD Networks, CMS,
and patient/provider stakeholders to discuss the potential impact of pandemic influenza on the
ESRD community. Eleven calls were held from April 27 to May 21, providing a forum to
discuss the H1N1 status and work together to identify and solve issues. The calls were
discontinued when the participants felt the need for the calls had passed as the crisis had been
addressed.
A post activation conference call was hosted on May 27th for the KCER Pandemic Team,
Facility Operations Team, and Federal Response Team to identify best practices, lessons learned
and opportunities for improvement.
Summary
FMQAI: The Florida ESRD Network continues to provide the service and support to the Kidney
Community Emergency Response Coalition. KCER provides CMS, ESRD Networks, and the
kidney community a solid foundation and sense of direction. As we move forward, KCER will
continue to embrace the values of patient-centered care and continuous quality improvement.
The KCER Coalition maintains more than one hundred volunteers across the United States.
Each volunteer has a unique background and provides an innovative contribution to the group.
KCER thanks these individuals who give up their time and knowledge to help guide Coalition
activities.
This year, the Coalition reached new audiences through Community Partnership. It is vital to
include new stakeholders in order to widely and effectively promote the unique needs of the
kidney community. KCER also undertook new activities that use the reliable communication
methods in new ways to ensure timely and effective emergency information delivery to the
kidney community through the recalls and alerts task.
Additionally, KCER developed a newsletter and blog, and promoted resources and information
through new technology. KCER will continue to seek out new and creative methods to promote
patient needs, disaster preparedness, facility training, and response coordination. Fostering
innovation will support the KCER Coalition as the group continues to grow in scope and
capabilities.